CROATIA TO PRESENT ITS CULTURE POLICY BEFORE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

( Editorial: --> 4734 ) ZAGREB, Apr 5 (Hina) - Croatia will present its culture before the Council of Europe next week when Council experts are expected to review Croatia's national culture policy. Croatian Culture Minister Bozo Biskupic and associates from the Ministry of Culture and the Foreign Affairs Institute will arrive in Strasbourg Monday, where on April 8 they will open two exhibitions, "From the Dove to Peace" and "Small Country". The presentation of Croatia's culture policy will be presented at a conference of the Council's Culture Committee between April 6 and 9. The Ministry of Culture has prepared an assessment of the national culture policy together with culture experts and Council of Europe experts headed by rapporteur Anna Niewiadomska. Council experts visited Croatia three times last year to get acquainted with legislation in culture, the decentralisation, privatisation and financing of culture, and with its problems. Next week's discussion will also focus on issues of special interest proposed by the Council's group of experts. These will include the enforcement of laws aimed at promoting cultural development, the necessity of decentralisation in culture, the media and their connection with culture policy, the separation of cultural values from political ones, and the use of culture policy in reconciliation and understanding. The drafting of a national cultural policy project for Croatia was accepted at a session of the Council of Europe's Culture Committee in 1993, and its realisation began in October 1996. (hina) ha 051320 MET apr 98